all the tip post today are from forum games this week, getting rather fed up.

328037288
***** Cassava Hand History for Game 328037288 *****
$50/$100 Blinds No Limit Holdem - *** 14 08 2012 21:14:17
Tournament #40048792 $1 + $0.10 - Table #1 (Real Money)
Seat 6 is the button
Total number of players : 8
Seat 1: zockgott ( $4,204 )
Seat 2: AAJazz72 ( $9,249 )
Seat 3: nitevenom ( $4,099 )
Seat 4: stately13 ( $4,136 )
Seat 5: grump15 ( $2,068 )
Seat 6: arxangel9 ( $7,050 )
Seat 9: Djuban99 ( $8,179 )
Seat 10: cryptic3 ( $2,645 )
Djuban99 posts small blind [$50]
cryptic3 posts big blind [$100]
** Dealing down cards **
Dealt to grump15 [ Qs, Ks ]
zockgott folds
AAJazz72 folds
nitevenom calls [$100]
stately13 calls [$100]
grump15 calls [$100]
arxangel9 folds
Djuban99 calls [$50]
cryptic3 checks
** Dealing flop ** [ Kd, 8s, 4s ]
Djuban99 bets [$100]
cryptic3 folds
nitevenom calls [$100]
stately13 folds
grump15 raises [$700]
Djuban99 folds
nitevenom raises [$1,950]
grump15 calls [$1,268]
** Dealing turn ** [ Kc ]
** Dealing river ** [ 7d ]
** Summary **
nitevenom shows [ 4c, 4h ]
grump15 shows [ Qs, Ks ]
nitevenom collected [ $4,536 ]

the point about these threads today is just how strong is top pair and top kicker or next to top kicker on the flop. how many times this has happend this week. and before you say " you play so many hands..." this week i only played the forum games.

when you made the raise , I was sure you had Kx and wanted to protect my set so re-raised in case your x card also hit and I did not want to see another K . I am sorry but that's the best hand that I made , all others QQ , AA AK all got put to the test and failed .. trouble with these hands is you have to play them If i bet out then get raised I need to shove , or I just shove to begin with either way I have lost about 85% of these hands . I limped with the 44 to try for set and got it for once. Most of my loses happened in re-buy games where I allow myself 2 re-buys but these type of hands always get me in trouble and end my game quickly so yes to play or not to play them that is the question
 

17 Aug 12 06:40 PM , donnie wrote:

Just bad luck , seems to happen alot lately . Don't think u done anything wrong . Hard to get away from that . Good times are round the corner

the point about these threads today is just how strong is top pair and top kicker or next to top kicker on the flop. how many times this has happend this week. and before you say " you play so many hands..." this week i only played the forum games.

In raised pots against 1 or 2 opponents you'll be strong a lot of times as you get the speculators out before they can do the damage (most of the time) in unraised multiway pots not too often

As played  the only way you don't lose a bucket load of chips at this point is by deciding what nitevenom can shove over the top with and working out if you have the odds to call, but let's start at the beginning

When the action comes to you there is $350 in the pot, the blinds and 2 limpers! you are in good position with 3 players to act after you (2 of them are the blinds) and you limp in for $100 with strong suited connectors, the button folds and this is going to be a 5 way pot because the sb is getting 9/1 to complete with any 2 cards and cryptic is getting a free flop, so now your facing 4 players on a random flop and will be paying for information of what they have.

Flop
The sb bets $100 into a $500 pot (no problem) cryptic folds which he is allways doing unless he mints the flop, after all he saw it for free so if he misses it why pay now, venom flat calls telling you nothing and you now raise to $700, exactly what is in the pot, utg folds knowing his A high isn't big enough and venom shoves his remaining stack, what does he have?

A high is unlikely unless it's AK or the suited spade, but you'd expect a raise with AK, Kx is possible but is he shoving Kx? the most likely hand he can flat call a bet then shove a raise with is trips, he was out of position pre flop with a low pocket pair so calls to see how much more it's going to cost to play (which in this case was nothing), if he hits a 4 on the flop he's still oop but can call then shove to aggression on the flop

When the action comes to you pre flop you have to raise if your playing KQ suited, there are 2 limpers before you and 3 to act after you with $350 in the pot so flat calling gives the button the chance to dominate by raising, it also gives the opportunity of a 6 way pot if the other 3 just decide to see a flop, then there's the possibillity of a BB raise to a limped pot to defend his blind, 2 of these outcomes are going to cost you more chips if you want to play KQ suited so ACT don't REACT

Pre flop raise to $600 and if the button calls you can evaluate the flop, if he shoves you can fold, you'll lose a few chips and maybe some table respect but you won't be crippled or out as you'll still have 14BB's, if he folds then the sb needs to put $550 into a $950 pot so he's going to need a strong hand, if he folds the BB is faced with putting $500 into a $950 pot and has the same issue, the 2 limps don't look strong and both have to put an extra $500 into the pot with whatever they limped with, and you'll have position throughout the hand and hopefully less opponents

Of course venom could decide he's playing his 44 and the outcome could be exactly the same, that's just poker but at least you'll have given your KQ suited the best chance of winning, and you could actually pick up a $350 pot with K high pre flop